Charge! Part 39

"Um? Done know," he replied. "Close by Doppie. All quiet. Fas' asleep. Lissum."

I listened, and all was very still. Now and then from a distance came a faint squeal and a stamp from some horse; but there was no talking going on, and it was hardly possible there in the darkness to conceive that probably a thousand men were lying near at hand, spread out to right and left, and ready at a call to spring up, mount, and dash across the plain.

"I can hear nothing," I replied at last, with my lips close to his ear. "Think they are gone, Joeboy?"

"Um? Gone?" he whispered back. "Gone 'sleep. Joeboy going to look for wagons."

"Stop a moment," I whispered. "Are you going to leave me here?"

"Um? Boss Val lie still and have good rest. Joeboy come back soon."

"But do you think you can find me again?" I said.

He put his lips close to my ear again and laughed softly.

"Um? Oh yes, Joeboy find um sure enough. See a lot in the dark. Boss Val lie quite still."

Before I could remonstrate against a plan which, it seemed to me, might, ruin our expedition, he had crept away; and from the direction he took I knew he had gone off to the left, going quite fast, and progressing in a style which, in old days, I had often laughingly said was like that of the crocodiles of the Limpopo. This time I did not hear him make a sound, and I could, of course, do nothing but lie still, feeling in my utter misery that all was over, and that I could only lie there till near daybreak, waiting to be found again by Joeboy, and waiting in vain. Then I would have to run the gauntlet of the outposts, and make a desperate effort to return, shamefaced and miserable, to the camp.

I tried hard to fix my attention on listening and endeavouring to make out how near I was to the Boer lines; but I could not hear a sound. Again and again I fretted at my miserable position as the time glided away and there was no sign of Joeboy.

"I should have stopped him," I reflected. "I ought not to have let him take the lead."

Just then, however, my heart seemed to give a great jump; for without a sound the black was alongside again, touching my leg, and then gliding up till his lips were level with my ear.

"Boss Val 'sleep-um?"

"Asleep!" I whispered back indignantly. "No."

"Um!" he whispered. "Joeboy been very long way. No wagon there. Now go this way."

"No, no!" I whispered back. "You must stay with me, or we must go together, Joeboy!"

There was no reply, and in alarm I stretched out my left hand to seize hold of him; but he had gone. I half-fancied I heard a faint rustle some distance off as of a great serpent gliding across in front of my head; but I dared not raise my voice to stop him. Now I realised that he must have glided away from me the moment he had uttered the words "this way;" and again I had to go through all that agony of expectation and dread. Still, I began to feel a little more confidence in Joeboy, and for the next half-hour I waited anxiously, hoping against hope, till I was in despair and half-mad.

I was just at my worst again, and picturing the looks of Denham, and his disappointment if I managed to get anywhere near where he was on the lookout for us, when I jumped violently, quite startled, for Joeboy seemed to rise out of the black earth on my light.

"Um?" he said softly. "Joeboy getting tired. Couldn't find wagon."

"Then it's all over?" I whispered, my heart sinking with despair.

"Um? Couldn't find at first," he said. "Joeboy went behind um. All out before Doppies."

"Then you did find them?" I whispered joyfully.

"Um? Yes, Joeboy find um. Went long way and then come back."

"But how did you manage to find them in the dark?"

"Um? Smell um," he said quietly. "Now, wait bit. Boss Val know what to say?"

"Oh yes, I know," I said.

"Get up," he whispered. "No Doppie here."

I was startled by his words, but I obeyed; and as soon as I was erect I felt his hands about me, feeling whether my rifle was slung across my shoulder, my bandolier in place, and my revolvers ready. Apparently satisfied, he gave a grunt, and taking my hand, he whispered again:

"No Doppie here. Over this way and that way."

I yielded to his guidance, with my heart throbbing heavily now; but the feeling of excitement returned as I began to act, and in a few minutes I found that something big and dark had loomed up in front, which I knew to be a great tilted wagon.

Joeboy bore to the left, and we walked silently on together till we had pa.s.sed the rears of six of the great vehicles drawn up at a fair distance apart, but pretty regularly side by side. I now realised that, though the wagons, as seen through the gla.s.s, had appeared to be in touch with the Boer troops, they really formed a line some distance in front.

From that moment everything seemed to be like a curious waking dream, in which I was the chief actor; for, pa.s.sing the last tail and going forward, I walked with Joeboy to the front, all being silent about the wagons. From beyond these came the peculiarly soft, chewing sound of working jaws; and I made out, partly by hearing and partly by the peculiar but not unpleasant odour, that there were the teams in their places, all the great oxen crouching down, from the pair on either side of the dissel-boom or pole to the foremost couple right in front, pair after pair, along the trek-tow-that is, the great rope which, for the team, serves as a continuation of the pole.

"Um?" whispered Joeboy as I stood listening to the dull cud-chewing of the resting beasts. "Now make um come out."

I hesitated for a moment or two; then I made the great effort to play my part as I felt it ought to be acted, and stood alongside the black and close up to the wagon, between the wheels. Then taking a long breath, and wondering at myself the while, I stooped down so that my voice might go well beneath; but paused as I was about to speak, for I could hear in duplicate a deep guttural snore. At that moment Joeboy pinched my arm; and, drawing a deep breath, I growled out in the best imitation I could of the Boer Dutch:

"Now then; rouse up, you lazy black beggars! Rouse up and trek!"

My heart sank as the last word pa.s.sed my lips.

"Suppose they are not Kaffirs?" I thought.

There was not a sound, and Joeboy again pinched my arm.

I knew what he wanted; so, raising my voice, I said hoa.r.s.ely, and in an angry tone:

"Rouse up! Trek!"

There was a loud rattling noise at the same moment, for Joeboy had reached under the wagon to strike here and there with the shaft of his a.s.sagai.

In an instant, following a dull thud or two, there came low remonstrant growls, there was a scuffle and a rush, and two big figures rose near us; one Kaffir ran towards the front box of the wagon, and the feet of the other went pat, pat till he stopped by the foremost pair of oxen in the team. Then the great beasts began to get upon their feet and shake themselves.

"It's all over now," I thought, as I stood appalled by the noise made by the bullocks, one of them lowing loudly; and, as if my despair was not deep enough, I found from what I could hear that I had fired a train, started a conflagration, or-to use another simile-touched one end of a row of card houses and set all in motion. The action of rousing up the blacks asleep beneath this one had communicated itself from wagon to wagon on to the end. "Open sesame!" caused the cave of the Forty Thieves to open; the magic word "Trek!" had started the wagon-drivers and forelopers; and now I expected the next thing would be a rush of Boer cavalry to surround us, unless Joeboy and I could hide.

"Yah! hor! whoo-oop! Trek!" cried Joeboy in his hoa.r.s.est voice, and he ran from me towards the foreloper, leaving me half-stunned at the turn matters had taken.

"Trek!" cried the black, who had climbed on to the box; then there was a tremendous crack of the huge whip he wielded, the oxen jerked at the trek-tow, the wheels creaked, and as I involuntarily took my rifle from where it was slung and c.o.c.ked it, the huge wagon began to lumber heavily through the soft earth, and I walked by its side uninterrupted, finding that in turn first one and then another of the six wagons started and followed, till the entire row were in motion, following the lead of Joeboy with the first foreloper, the whole business growing, in the darkness, more and more like a feverish dream.

Chapter Twenty Seven.

Night Work.

By a sudden effort I threw off the dreamy sensation-the feeling that I was half-stunned by the pressure of the task I had undertaken, now that it had suddenly grown so much greater than I had antic.i.p.ated-and I walked alongside the wagon-box, breathing hard, and planning that at the first sound of approaching enemies I would rush forward to where Joeboy was tramping beside the foreloper, a.s.sagai in hand, and make a dash with him for liberty. But the minutes glided by, as the line of wagons, all going on with the regularity of some great, elongated machine, rolled easily along over the soft earth, the rested bullocks pulling steadily under the guidance of their leaders and drivers.